


Until Death Do Us Part

by Omness



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, F/M, Hunger Games-Typical Death/Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-24 23:49:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16650220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Omness/pseuds/Omness
Summary: Chosen as tribute to the Hunger Games, you were resigned to your inevitable death for the Capitol's amusement. But here you were, one of the final two standing. The only thing stopping you from surviving this horror was the favorite to win, Nines.





	Until Death Do Us Part

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing a Reader/Second person POV and I must say it is weird.  
> Also, this is vaguely based off the first idea in this post http://the-darklings.tumblr.com/post/179700047745/dude-dude-hear-me-out-reader-nines-and  
> Hope you enjoy!

You pushed Connor off of you and stood shakily to your feet, barely even flinching as his dead body hit the ground with a harsh thud, blood oozing from his back around the blade of the knife. You should be running now, trying to escape into the towering grasses, gain some distance with the sacrifice that Connor had just made on your behalf, but were just so  _ tired _ . The arena that the twenty-four tributes had been placed in had no night, constantly being lit by the sun, meaning that you and Connor had constantly been on guard. Anyone who fell too deeply into sleep, died.

But that didn’t really matter now did it? It was just you and Nines now, the last two survivors in this  _ game _ . And despite still being partially blinded from the blood trickling into your left eye, you could still see the wide-eyed shock on Nines’ face, his hand frozen, still outstretched from the throw. You should be using his moment of surprise to run, you had no chance against a career, but instead you  _ laughed _ .

It was not a nice laugh, it was harsh, guttural, hurting your parched throat, but you couldn’t stop it if you tried. You had been so worried what would happen if it had come down to just you and Connor. Both of you willing to take your own life so the other could live. But you had neatly dodged that bullet with an accidental moment of inattention.

And  _ Nines.  _ He seemed so flabbergasted, almost  _ hurt _ that he had actually managed to kill his own half-brother. Despite the fact you had seen him kill a ten year old without remorse. Despite the fact he had singled both Connor and you out since the game started, toying with you both and making survival so much harder. 

Your laughs turned into hacking coughs, causing you to bend over as you convulsed, blood spattering your hand as you tried to cover your mouth. Once you managed to regain your breath you stood up straight and met eyes with Nines. He was back to his cold facade again, no sign of emotion on his face as he watched you, waited to see what you would do.

You held your arms out at your sides, hands open to show them empty of weapons. “Well, this is it. Just us. The final two. I think it’s time we finished this.”

Nines raised an eyebrow, and despite the ten feet of distance between the two of you, you could swear his eyes looked conflicted. “Are you certain this is what you want? You won’t fight me? You’ll just die?” He asked, the questions coming out more as statements in his quiet matter-of-fact way.

You looked down at Connor’s body and your eyes burned, but you had run out of tears, using them all on the train ride to the capitol. “I only lived for him. I knew he would’ve given up when I died.” And you had accepted that you would die, that your chances of winning were nonexistent, so you had said your goodbyes to your family and friends knowing it would be the last time you would ever see them. But Connor... 

Connor was fierce and could fight, trained half of his life as a career before being dumped in your backwater district, underestimated because of his soft way of speaking and unassuming aura. He could win, he had a chance of surviving, and if someone was going to walk away from this  _ game _ you wanted it to be him. So you threw your all into keeping you two alive, using every scrap of knowledge you ever had, every trick you had ever learned, every tip given. You did this knowing that Connor felt similarly to you, would rather have you survive because you had a loving family to go back to while he only had an indifferent uncle. Knowing that if it came down to just the two of you, it would have been about who could commit suicide the fastest.

You looked back up at Nines, his bottom lip in between his teeth in what you could only interpret as frustration but you didn’t know why. “Come at me, I won’t stop you.”

Slowly, Nines pulled another knife from the sheath at his hip, testing the sharpness of the blade against his thumb, tossing it back and forth between his hands

“What’s taking you so long?” You asked. “The audience is waiting you know.”

Nines met your eyes, hesitation rippling across his impassive face for a moment. Another beat passed and he spoke. “Why him?” he said coldly, but not quite with the frigidness you were used to, “Why Connor?”

“Because he was all I had left.” You said bluntly.

Nines seemed to accept your answer, nodding as he readied his body to attack. Then he dashed forward, straight at you.

You watched Nines rush at you, the point of the knife unwaveringly aimed for your heart You could see clear intention there, he had no tricks planned this time and there wasn’t much you could do. Nines was large for his age, and strong, and you had only ever been given a crash course on how to fight, you didn’t know the proper way to turn his weight and momentum against him, to turn the tide of a fight in your favor, you could only do the best you could.

At the last possible second you swept your forearm in front of your chest to redirect Nine’s attack, and immediately brought your other arm up, the hidden dagger in your sleeve sliding into your hand as you stabbed into Nines. Neither action worked quite the way you wanted, instead of the knife missing you it stabbed into the left side of your chest, barely missing your heart, and you only brought up your knife in time for Nines to gore himself in the gut, instead of the heart.

Still, you couldn’t help the smirk that crossed your face as you looked into Nines’ shocked expression. “Did you really think I would go down without a fight?”

You flinched at the harsh sound that came from Nines, but after a moment you realized it was a  _ laugh _ . A laugh that immediately turned into a growl of pain as it jostled the dagger in his gut. And when he looked down at you his expression was  _ soft _ and almost  _ fond.  _ You didn’t know what to make of it. With his expression so mellow Nines almost looked handsome. “I had hoped you wouldn’t.” 

With knives still in each other’s chests, Nines leaned down, determination in his eyes as he placed his lips on yours. Claiming them as his own.

It wasn’t the worst kiss you’ve ever had, and it wasn’t the best either, but when Nines pulled away, it left you breathless and despite everything you couldn’t help mirror the soft smile on his face.

“You ready?” Nines asked tenderly.

Silently, you nodded.

And in sync the two of you pulled out your knives and stepped away from each other. Immediately, all the pain you had been blocking out came rushing back in. You fell to your knees, gasping sharply as you hands clawed at your chest, desperately trying to put pressure on your wound. But still you were losing so much blood, your mind going light headed as the blood loss and exhaustion and the  _ stress _ of the last month caught up to you, your vision fading to black as you fell forward.

You couldn’t see, and there was a ringing in your ears, and everything felt like rubber, but you swear you sensed someone roll you over, a large warmth appearing at your back as comforting hands replaced yours against your wound. The last thing you could hear were soothing sounds cooed into your ear before you completely passed out.

 

You awoke slowly, blinking away your clouded vision to reveal the room that had been yours during your stay at the capitol, an insistent pain on the left side of your chest.

You could only stare at the ceiling in disbelief.

You were  _ alive. _

_ Why _ were you alive?

By all rights you should have been dead.

“You’re finally awake.” A high feminine voice stated.

You turned your head to see your mentor, dark legs crossed and a book in her lap. 

“I would say congrats, and give you time to recover, but you’ve been out for weeks and the capitol wants to get their party show on the road.” She said, voice crisp.

“Wha-” You manage to get out, before breaking into coughs.

“Easy now, easy now.” Wren comforted, her voice going soft as she helped you to sit up and handed you a glass of water.

“What’s going on?” You asked as soon as you could. Your mind still felt fuzzy, your hand fidgeting with the bandages underneath the silk pajamas you were wearing.

Wren looked sad as she continued to arrange the dark blue pillows you were leaning on. “Well, you managed to win the Hunger Games and normally you’d be given time to return to tip-top shape for public consumption but the people have been roaring to see you after that finale. The only reason you aren’t being overwhelmed right now with people prepping you is because I managed to convince them to give me five minutes alone to prepare you.” She glanced at the slim watch on her wrist. “You have exactly twenty-eight seconds for any questions.”

You couldn’t concentrate, feeling like you were swaying slightly as you tried to gather your thoughts, but it felt like plucking clouds from the air.

“Your on some pretty strong painkillers right now, along with some other medical bullroar I don’t understand. So you may be feeling disorientated.” Wren explained, seeming to read your mind.

Finally, a thought seemed to solidify into your mind. “Nines-” 

A plethora of people burst through your room door and any thoughts you had were swept away as you were passed around from person to person, being measured, having makeup done, hair done, being dressed. And everyone was so busy  _ talking _ it made it hard to think. Some of the people clearly tried to talk to you, but their words flowed over you like water. Thankfully, Wren did most of the talking and you managed to catch on to one thing that you held onto like a lifeline. Today would just be a short TV appearance, no interviews, no performances, nothing. Just had to stand there look pretty while the President gave some kind of speech. And honestly? You were pretty sure you could only do the looking pretty part due to everyone’s hard work because whenever you stood for more than a minute the room started to tilt.

Even with this setback you were shuffled out and put in a car, all the lights and colors of the city swirling into one with a quiet mantra picking up in the back of your mind. 

_ I’m alive everyone is dead I’m alive Connor is dead I’m alive everyone is dead I’m alive Nines is dead I’m alive…. _

Finally you made it to the backstage of where the speech was taking place and you thought you would have a few moments to yourself, but you were immediately pushed onstage as the president announced you to the roaring crowd. Without missing a beat, you managed to walk steadily to where you were told to stand on the president’s left. You’re pretty sure you didn’t stumble even once despite the fact you’re certain the stage was moving against you. And you were certain it continued to move as you stood there, and despite you using all your concentration to stay standing a single sentence managed to cut through your haze.

“And now announcing our first ever second winner of the games, Niles Stern!”

It was like a bucket of ice-cold water was poured over you, all of a sudden you were completely aware and focused, following the president’s arm to the right side of the stage. And there, walking out of stage right, was Nines.

Your jaw dropped as you watched Nines approach and stand on the opposite side of the president. He looked the same as ever, his hair and impassive expression perfectly in place, but there were bags under his eyes that even make-up couldn’t completely cover.

_ Nines was alive? _

Nines was alive.

But how? There was only supposed to be one winner of the Hunger Games.

Remembering that you were on television, you shut your mouth and tried your best to look pretty while you mind swirled busily with thoughts. Did the people running the game let the both of you live? Or was it coincidence? Why didn’t they just let one of you bleed out?

Finally,  _ finally _ , the speech was over. As soon as you were backstage again you pushed past Wren who was trying to help you back to the car and made your way as fast as you could to the other side. There you could just caught a glimpse of Nines about to exit, following behind his mentor.

“Nines!” You called.

Nines turned at the sound of your voice and just as you reached him you tripped, falling into him as he caught you, his arms automatically wrapping around your waist.

“You’re alive.” You couldn’t help but state dumbly as you stared up into his ice-blue eyes. “Why are we both alive?”

Nines raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Because the game masters didn’t want to risk both of us dying from blood loss, leaving them without a winner. Turns out we both survived after receiving treatment. Didn’t anyone tell you this?”

“I.. maybe? Everything’s kinda a blur right now.” You said, glancing away from him, then quickly looked back as it was easier to focus on him than the spinning room. 

Nines was alive. You were alive. The Hunger Games were over.

“So what do we do now?” You asked in a voice that sounded so small in your ears.

“The same as the previous champions, attend the Capitol’s party then go back to our districts to bask in our newfound wealth and glory.” He said in his flat voice.

“It can’t be that simple.” You said, searching Nine’s eyes, trying to see into him, see into his mind like his gaze seemed to do to you. Was he really just a career that only cared about the glory? A career that didn’t see all the  _ wrongness _ of the games? “We’ve seen and done things we can’t take back Nines. Do you really think you could go back and pretend nothing happened?”

And as you stared earnestly into Nine’s eyes you saw his icy exterior crack, opening wide enough for you to see a scared and broken boy, someone with just as many scars as you. You were no longer enemies, only survivors.

“I don’t know.” Nines whispered, his voice sounding so lost. “I don’t know. I don’t know what’s supposed to come after. My purpose is completed.”

“Hey,” You said softly, reaching up to cup Nine’s cheeks in your palms, “I’m sure we’ll figure something out. What other choice do we have?”

At your touch Nines’ focus snapped back to you. “Come back with me.” He practically demanded.

“What?” You exclaimed. You retracted your hands and tried to step back but Nines tightened his hold on you.

“Come back to my district with me. We’ll figure out what comes next together.” 

You stared at Nines in disbelief. Did he really expect you’d be willing to stay with him? After all he had put you and Connor through during the games? He even killed Connor! But then again, it's not like you were entirely innocent either. You had done many things that your previous self wouldn’t have approved of and maybe, just maybe, it would be nice to have someone around who also understood what you’ve been through.

“No.” You said, and you watched as Nine’s expression shutter closed, but not fast enough to hide his hurt. “If we’re doing this together you’re coming back to my district with me.”

It was like a flip had switched in Nine’s expression, his face immediately softened and his mouth quirked up in a lopsided smile that achingly reminded you of Connor. “Agreed.”

Then, with surprising hesitance, Nines leaned down and caught your lips in his. You leaned into the kiss, taking comfort from the intimate action. Feeling relief at being touched in a way that was meant to be kind rather than kill. The Hunger Games had left you shattered, but you thought that with Nines, you might just be able to hold your pieces together.


End file.
